Americas

A new plan to cover the urgent needs of millions of Venezuelan refugees and migrants, coordinated by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), was launched in Geneva on Friday.

Haiti is “laden with challenges, but also hope”, the head of the UN Mission in the country told the Security Council on Wednesday, against the backdrop of on-going political unrest in the Caribbean country.

Hundreds of people from Central American States who joined the human caravans travelling towards the United States have been helped home after asking for assistance, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.

Migrants who have made, or who are making the journey to the United States border in caravans confront increasing threats to their lives, liberty and security, United Nations independent experts said on Wednesday, calling for their full protection.

Nicaragua must respect the rights to free opinion and expression and to peaceful assembly, the United Nations human rights wing said on Friday, amid reports that authorities are continuing to criminalize legitimate actions of social leaders and others associated with protests that erupted in the country earlier this year.

For the first time in a decade, the number of people falling into poverty in rural Latin America and the Caribbean has increased by two million, according to a new United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, which called the worrying trend a “historical reversal.”

The reintroduction of smallholder cocoa production in Guatemala is addressing both economic and environmental problems brought on by climate change, thanks to support provided by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

With Small Island Developing States (SIDS) bearing the brunt of economic losses from climate change, making them more resilient to extreme weather events must be a priority, said Inga Rhonda King, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), speaking at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday.